Monday miscellany

From the IPKat's friend Tony McStea comes this ditty, to the tune of the Hokey Cokey, which he subtitles "An Irish computer incompetent tries to work the European Patent Office's electronic filing system late on a Friday afternoon ..."
"I put my smart card in
I took my smart card out
I put my smart card in
And I shook it all about
I tried some pokey-pokey but it threw me out
That's when I start to pout

Oh! pokey, pokey pokey!
EP I want to chokey!
Filing goes up in smokey!
Not what it's all about!

They said it was a sin
They left me in no doubt
A sixty-four bit Win-
Dows brings the problems out
A silly oldie fogey like me will have drought
Be fish water without

Oh! Bokey! bokey! bokey!*
Feel anything but jokey!
Not even slightly OK!
Not what it's all about".
* [Adds Tony] the Oxford English Dictionary is sadly lacking the Northern Irish verb "to boke" (to be physically sick, a shorter but less colourful version of the Australian Technicolor(R) yawn).


Can he fix it? The UK's Intellectual Property Office has just announced the appointment of a new Chairman to its Steering Board. Bob the Gilbert looks just the man to fix any dodgy steering too. He's an ex-Wragge partner, former chairman of Nominet and currently chairman of the Paintbox Group [Merpel wonders, does that mean we're in for some colourful language?].  Bob's Steering Board is charged with advising Ministers, through the IPO's Director General, Sir Adrian Smith, on its Corporate Plan and performance -- including targets. The Steering Board also provides guidance from a commercial standpoint on the IPO's operation and development across a range of issues.


A reader who is doing a bit of travelling later this year and wants to combine business with pleasure has asked the IPKat the following question: "Do you by any chance know of any IP events in Japan or Korea over the week 17th -27th May?" To his embarrassment the Kat has to confess that he doesn't.  But some of his readers might know of one: if you can help this desperate reader in his hour of need, please feel free to do so by posting details, or even just a link, below.
Monday miscellany Monday miscellany Reviewed by Jeremy on Monday, February 07, 2011 Rating: 5

3 comments:

  1. IP events in Asia in the month of May ... There are two in Hong Kong and Macao, that should be easily accessible wherever you are in Asia.

    The events are organised by the Institute for European Studies of Macau and Maastricht University Faculty of Law. For the Hong Kong leg it is co-organised by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    Annual Professional IP Update, followed by the 12th Annual IEEM IP Seminar, May 21-24

    The Annual Professional Update provides an overview of all relevant cases and legislative developments of the past year from all over the world. During one day you will be brought up to speed on the major important legal decisions and developments in intellectual property law and policy.

    Location for Saturday 21 May: Graduate Law Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.


    The two-days Annual Intellectual Property Seminar offers a forum for IP professionals wishing to be part of a thought-provoking discussion on cutting-edge developments in intellectual propety law and policy. Distinguished practitioners, judges and academics from all over the world have contributed to this event. The papers they have presented have been published in book form by Kluwer Law International and Hart Publishing.

    In 2011 the 12th Annual IP Seminar's topic will be:

    Consumers, Facilitators, and Intermediaries - IP Infringers or Innocent Bystanders?

    A group of distinguished speakers has been confirmed to speak on issues such as ISP liability, unwarranted threats to primary and secondary infringers, contributory and secondary liability for patent and copyright infringement, Google ads and trademark infringement, liability for transporters and freighters, time and geo-shifting devices and services, eBay and trademark infringement, and the impact of sporting events legislation on the public sphere.

    Location for 23-24 May: Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16, Macao.

    Speakers include inter alia: Irene Calboli (Marquette University) Christopher Heath (EPO), Byung-Il Kim (Hanyang University), David Llewelyn (White & Case), Jan Nordemann (University of Berlin), Anselm Kamperman Sanders (Maastricht University), Pascale Trefigny (University of Grenoble), Tasuhiro Ueno (University of Tokyo), Bryan Mercurio (Chinese University of Hong Kong). They will be joined by local Hong Kong and Macau practitioners.

    For information see: http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Institutes/IGIR/Education/ProfessionalTrainingCourses/MacaoIPProgramme.htm

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tony,

    You could use the EPO's ever-so-reliable fax service...oh, erm, hang on....maybe move to Munich

    ReplyDelete
  3. I used to work with Bob (Gilbert). Knowing him as I do, colourful language is likely. He was the man who single-handedly introduced those great American phrases to Wragge & Co's corporate team in the late 80's - "ballpark figure", "lets run it up the flagpole and see who salutes", "bottom line" ..... etc etc. To coin a couple more phrases, given that he does not suffer fools gladly (some of) the committee/Ministers may be in for a bumpy ride.

    ReplyDelete

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